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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Emile Vidrine who wrote (4854)	2/1/2003 10:52:35 PM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Schroeder Keeps Finger on German Pulse By TONY CZUCZKA Associated Press Writer February 1, 2003, 3:34 PM EST HANOVER, Germany -- Tapping the national mood before weekend elections, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is standing up boldly to the United States, resisting its push for war in Iraq and presenting himself as a champion of peace. Appealing to Germans' anti-war attitude was crucial to Schroeder's re-election in September. Now, with prospects bleak for his party in two state elections Sunday, both domestic and global politics are hardening his resolve. "I hope he keeps his word," Erika Ackermann, 41, said at a Schroeder campaign rally in his home state of Lower Saxony. "I cannot imagine Germany getting involved in a war. That would be something completely horrific." U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had such fearfulness in mind when he called Germany "a problem" and derided it as part of the "old Europe" in answer to a question about opposition to an Iraq war by U.S. allies. But the German position is in line with a growing peace movement. Thousands of activists marched in German cities and blockaded a NATO aviation base last weekend, carrying banners saying "No Blood for Oil" and "War is Murder." If Sunday's state votes in Hesse and Lower Saxony were an anti-war referendum, Schroeder's party would coast to victory. Yet Germans remain skeptical that he can muster the stamina for the most critical domestic task -- shaking the cobwebs out of Europe's biggest economy so it can regain its formidable power. Polls show his Social Democrats trailing in the elections. Losing both states would weaken Schroeder's hand just as he recovers from a shaky start to his second term. His conservative foes would boost their majority in parliament's upper house, the states' chamber -- leverage they can use to press Schroeder for bolder economic reforms than he currently wants. The conservatives, still smarting from last year's national election, avoid the war issue as best they can. While accusing Schroeder of jeopardizing ties with the United States and weakening the front against Iraq, they can't afford to stray far from the national mood. As it did in September, Schroeder's party has grabbed the anti-war theme and run with it. Sigmar Gabriel, the Lower Saxony governor battling to keep the job that Schroeder held for eight years, echoed the view of many leftist Germans at a televised campaign debate -- that the hidden U.S. motive is a quest for Iraqi oil and strategic influence in the Middle East. "I am not prepared to send boys and girls into a war there solely for that purpose," said Gabriel. "I think that's wrong." Opposition to war has grown in recent weeks along with fears that the conflict cannot be stopped. A ZDF television poll Friday showed 59 percent against German participation in any Iraq conflict, up from 53 percent in December. The telephone survey of 1,133 people had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percent. Germans' sense of foreboding -- rooted in revulsion at two world wars their country started last century -- has also deepened because Germany is set to chair the Security Council in February, thrusting it into a critical diplomatic role that could decide between war and peace. Again, the public's message to Schroeder is clear: a poll last week found 89 percent support for his refusal to underwrite any authorization of war on Iraq. "What we do and don't do is decided in Berlin and nowhere else," Schroeder shouted at a recent campaign event, drawing appreciative whistles and the biggest applause of the evening. "We will not let up in our efforts to resolve this conflict without a war," Schroeder said Wednesday, the day after President Bush laid out his case for war with Iraq in his State of the Union address. Unable to match Schroeder's emotional appeal, the opposition Christian Democrats are attacking him on the economy. They sense that even in the midst of the Iraq crisis, Germans will seize the chance to slap the chancellor for his postelection tax hikes and his failure to cure stubbornly high unemployment and near-zero growth. In Lower Saxony, Schroeder's party looked headed for defeat by Christian Democrats after 13 years in power. Polls predict a reversal of the two parties' strength in the state legislature, giving the center-right 48 percent and Schroeder's Social Democrats 36 percent. In Hesse, which includes Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital, polls show conservative governor Roland Koch increasing his majority at the expense of the Social Democrats. But while his party may suffer a setback, it is Schroeder who remains in touch with the larger themes touching the German soul -- no to war and no to the United States. "The man needs to reach out to people's hearts," said retired accountant Asmus Janssen, 60. "And he's still doing it." Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press newsday.com